Articles & News

The definition of the word “publication” in the Canadian Copyright Act is a follows: 2.2 (1) For the purposes of this Act, publication means (a) in relation to works, (i) making copies of a work available to the public, (ii) the construction of an architectural work, and (iii) the incorporation of an artistic work into […]

When Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) came into effect in 2014, certain sections relating to a “private cause of action” enforced through the Courts did not take effect until 1 July 2017. With the date of 1 July2017 rapidly approaching, this article will review what this private cause of action may mean to individuals and businesses. […]

A number of years ago I was asked to rescue an advertising agency. The advertising agency required a picture of a dancer for the advertising campaign for a large company. The advertising agency had obtained clearance from the photographer, but had not paid any attention to the identity of the dancer in the picture. For […]

A client called me the other day to discuss some steps he wished to take against a competitor who was infringing his patent. The client wanted to write letters to some major companies that were purchasing product from the competitor, to make them aware of the infringement and advise them that he would be forced […]

“Scraping” occurs when a business pulls commercial content from the websites of other businesses using web crawlers or other technologies, and then uses that commercial content for its own commercial purposes. On April 13, 2017, a decision was rendered in the United States in the case of Craigslist, Inc v. RadPad Inc. Craigslist alleged that […]

In late 2012, the Canadian Copyright Act was amended to prohibit the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs – e.g. digital locks). , The relevant section of the Act reads: Definitions 41 The following definitions apply in this section and in sections 41.1 to 41.21. circumvent means, • (a) in respect of a technological protection measure […]